Transient Ischemic Attacks and Strokes.........?

Question

Are there any sort of statistics on how many people who have a TIA, or transient ischemic attack, end up having a stroke afterwards? My boyfriend just had a TIA yesterday and has to go back up to the hospital tomorrow for a bunch of more tests at the Stroke Assessment Clinic, but in the meantime I am very worried. He is only 47 years old but has already had two open hearts surgeries, and a stroke in between those two surgeries. If anyone has any info about this I sure would be appreciative. Thanks!

Good information so far....just to provide a little more information, his open heart surgeries were for replacement of the aortic valve. The first time he got a mechanical valve and then it was replaced with a prosthetic valve..........

Answer 1

Within six weeks the risks seem to be quite high, but I'm afraid I don't remember quite how high.
My father had one then six weeks later had a heart attack, at the time the doctor said that was fairly common after a TIA.
They have far more treatments and diagnostics available now than they did twenty years ago, so I'm sure they will have a better handle on it.
Make sure your boyfriend puts you down as someone who can be told of his condition, otherwise you may have trouble finding things out or seeing him in hospital.

Answer 2

Well, TIAs are brief events when the brain doesn't get enough blood flow, but not for a long enough period of time to cause cell death, or infarction (a stroke). If he's 47 and has already had two open heart surgeries and a stroke, then he is, unfortunately, at very high risk for more heart disease and strokes. To have had such a history at age 47 is unfortunate and confers a high risk.

I hate to say this, but it's pretty likely that he's already had a lot of small strokes. People who have that much cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease will have changes in their brains that show evidence of multiple tiny strokes over time.

There's no guarantee that he'll have a stroke because he had a TIA, but because he's had open heart surgery (assuming it was some sort of bypass procedure, rather than a valve replacement), then it's very likely he'll have one at some point in his life.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your boyfriend is probably at high-risk for strokes and heart attacks. Hopefully they'll be small strokes if he has any more. His initial stroke may have been from the heart surgery (which is a common complication). But his health history suggests he has a problem with clogging his arteries, and that includes the arteries of the brain.

Answer 3

TIAs are episodes of stroke symptoms that last only briefly. The standard definition of duration is <24 h, but most TIAs last <1 h. These stroke symptoms could present as drowsiness, slurred speech, disorientation or like a drunk individual, body weakness or body numbness. Anyone who had previous history of TIA is at high risk to have future attack. It is very likely that the previous presentations that she appeared drunk were actually TIA or or mini stroke. Ideally, she should have work ups during the first presentation so that prophylaxis should have started earlier to prevent complete stroke.